Mac Mini for PT

[mzkguy]

I'd anyone out there using a Mac Mini with PT10? Curious to hear how Thunderbolt and USB3 are working out. Considering making the purchase along with UA Apollo interface.

T

[quantise]

I know that there is quite a community of mac mini server users that use a non server version of osx on the older server machines. I suspect the new machines are just a bit new to get a response on this yet but I too am thinking of going this route.

On the face of it the two top range 2012 mac minis look like they could be great budget machines at the heart of a PT rig. Comments that the performance of the upper end mac minis reach that of the low end 2010 mac pros sound promising.

I've heard word that the latest edition of the Pro Tools Expert podcast scheduled for this evening, UK time, will discuss these new machines. You can find links to the podcast here:
http://www.pro-tools-expert.com/podcast/

Best,

John

[nst7]

The new Mac mini's are basically the same as before other than slightly faster processors and USB 3.0.

People who have used USB 3.0 drives on the Retina Macbook Pro have stated that it works just fine. And people who have used Thunderbolt items on the various Macs also state that it works fine.

So the new Mac mini's should work great, just as the previous ones did.

[CME]

Originally Posted by nst7

The new Mac mini's are basically the same as before other than slightly faster processors and USB 3.0.

People who have used USB 3.0 drives on the Retina Macbook Pro have stated that it works just fine. And people who have used Thunderbolt items on the various Macs also state that it works fine.

So the new Mac mini's should work great, just as the previous ones did.

Yep. They still seem to be the best bang for your buck Mac. ESP if you already have a monitor and keyboard laying around. I think the mid-level is the sweet spot. Swap out the HD for an SSD and add a second 7200 rpm drive. Killer little compact rig.

[propower]

New mid level mini ($799 !!!!) benchmarks in the 11,000+ range on geek bench, has 4 USB3 (5Gb/s), 1 TB (10Gb/s) port, FW800, HDMI, Ethernet, Dig audio out, SDXC, can take 16G ram (32 when available) and features the same processors found in the top of the line MBP retina... All add on drives can now be external with 200MB/s++ performance -- USB3 is a huge addition to these!

Budget machine in price only. For a dedicated PT system we are talking close to a 2010 MacPro in performance!

Will cost many times the price ($799) of this one to get better specs. 2010 6 core 3.33 -- $3000.

[albee1952]

I would expect the i7 Mini to be a little smoker

[drumzalicious]

I currently use a Mac Mini. Not one of the newer ones with USB 3 but the previous year. Currently nothing is on my thunderbolt port but an external monitor. My external drives are all running off of the FW 800 port. The only errors I have ever really gotten are "disk too slow errors" and thats about once every two weeks when working with a big session (80 + tracks). The little guy hasn't been turned off since I got it back in April for any extended period of time outside of a thunderstorm. I usually just put it to sleep when I'm not using it.

As a dedicated PT system it's quite amazing. I do some web browsing on it however its mainly web forums, watching mixing videos, and checking out plugins and such. Other than that the only thing really used on it is Dropbox.

[CME]

And maybe it's changed, but I know avid use to recommend disabling sleep. But good to hear you're having good success with it. :)

[drumzalicious]

Originally Posted by CME

And maybe it's changed, but I know avid use to recommend disabling sleep. But good to hear you're having good success with it. :)

sleep is disabled for if the computer is sitting there on its own. I was more referring to manually putting it to sleep after the work day is done.

[CME]

Cool. I have always disabled it and just shut down mine. Whatever works though. :)